Can I borrow a feeling? Spillover of negative arousal from inconsistent information during attitude formation diminishes perceptions of well-being

This research examines the extent to which the negative arousal caused by valence inconsistent supraliminal behavioral information and subliminal primes during attitude formation affects peopleʹs perceptions of their current well-being. Participants who received inconsistent information about a novel individual during an impression formation task reported more negative arousal, lower self-esteem, greater depression, and greater perceived stress than those in a control condition. Mediational analyses indicated that negative arousal stemming from attitude formation with valence inconsistent information guided participantsʹ responses to well-being measures via misattribution of this arousal. These results cannot be explained by a simple response bias because recall of negative physical symptoms in the past 2 weeks were unaffected by receiving valence inconsistent information. This research suggests that the spillover of negative arousal from attitude formation, when unable to be easily attributed to the attitude object, served as a cue that people utilized when determining how they felt.